Bed Frames For The Heavier Woman

There is nothing worse than the sound of your bed collapsing underneath you except… the actual sudden drop that happens when a bed frame fails and falls sending that awful feeling of losing your stomach through your body during this minor home catastrophe.  This happened to me in my first year of college after purchasing a new bed set.  I didn’t have a lot of money at that point and I spent as little as possible on my furniture.  I have always been large even as a kid.  Because of that particular incident, I decided to do a little research on bed frames so I would never have to go through that embarrassing experience again.  I’ll share with you what I’ve discovered.

Why is the Bed Frame Important?

In tradition, standard bed frames are designed and built for an average Jane and Joe not a full-figured woman like myself. I just don’t think many bed stores give a lot of thought to the bed frame they sell someone of my size, instead they sold me the same thing they sell everyone else, an average bed frame. I like to save money and I guess I expected them to know what I needed. The truth is I had been guilty of shopping for the cheapest product, obviously, and I learned the hard way that spending less money on a bed frame was a bad idea and would inevitably set me up for personal disaster.  What I’ve learned from my past experience may save you some time and energy, so listen up. There are more advantages than meets the eye when you buy a stronger more solid bed frame.The purchase price is only about 15 to 20 percent higher than a standard frame, but the value you get will exceed the little bit of extra cost and the huge hassle of having to remove the bedding, the heavy mattress, boxspring and take the bed apart only to have to put it all back together.

Support Systems for Heavy Duty Frames

Most standard bed frames have rug rollers which allows for mobility and convenience, but they do not provide the needed strength and support the size a person like myself requires.  Being that nearly half of our country fits into my category of “big & tall or plus size,” I think it’s important to let people know that there are support systems available that can get the job done.

So where do you start?

Reading the reviews on the frame you are interested in before buying it is always a great idea.  Also, if available, make sure you find out what the weight capacity is on the specific frame you want to buy, making sure it exceeds your own personal weight and the extra weight of your spouse, or anyone who may use the bed with you.  If the product description does not list this information, contact the manufacturer or, like I stated above, read online reviews. There are other ways to determine if the base is strong enough to support you.

What to Look for and Best Option?

After much searching I found information to be quite vague as to weight capacities or how the bed frame might hold up, much less whether it is suited to support someone who is considered heavy, obese, or overweight. What was I to do?

After much research the perfect frame for me was a soft side waterbed frame – not the water bed, just the frame. Mine has 12 legs instead of 4 to 6, which seems to be standard on most models I found. The structure of a water bed frame is beefy and muscular with L shaped iron. The angle iron found on these frames ranges in measurement from inch and a quarter to two inches. This is the measurement of the L each direction. NOTE: Avoid inch and a quarter. 1 1/2 inch is most common.

Because a waterbed frame is designed to hold the weight of water, which can easily exceed an entire ton making it real world proof to the frame’s capabilities.  While it may not be the most attractive choice, I cover mine with a bed skirt and feel better that I can rest in confidence knowing that this bed bottom will hold together beautifully. Instead of using quick connect pins in key slots for assembly these heavy duty frames use the solid  secure fastening of nuts and bolts. They are used on most every model I shopped which makes since to me by avoiding pins slipping or other cheap connections, which would cause a collapse.

What Fits on them?

The heavy weight frames are designed to interchange with large or standard mattresses of any brand, type and size and of course the most important part – the box springs. Mattresses and box springs are exactly the same size as the waterbed frames and could come in handy saving you lots of money if you stay with the same size bedding.  Since rug rollers are not strong enough for these large framed beds, the added benefit of having flat strong feet, proportionately holding the weight, gives this structure a better advantage.  Any head board or foot board combination works well with waterbed frames just note the different connection types like bolt up, stand alone, or hook in. Most importantly they work with all types of mattresses and should give both you and your mattress the best support for your hard earned money.